thinking

Automobiles have become synonymous with progress for people’s living. Unfortunately, if everyone were to own a gas guzzling vehicle our earth and atmosphere and environment would go to shit. Trouble is, that’s already happening.

I’m writing here because I want to buck that trend. It’s hard for me to relate to car ownership as a notion of “progress” because my idea of the American Dream (or rather, Ideal Life) is different from so many others.

Let me preface this with the little-known fact that I love driving. I love being behind the wheel. I love the freedom, the adventure, the tranquility of traffic patterns and the engineering that makes our roads and highway systems possible. Ever since I was a young lass all I wanted to do was drive. I would longingly dream of the day I could get my license. If I were lucky, I would sit on my parents’ lap as we pulled in or out of the garage and pretend like it was me captaining the ship. I drew mini roads and neighborhoods in chalk with my sister on our driveway at our childhood home, through which we would then navigate with our bicycles. I was ecstatic when I became big enough to drive the tractor and could cut the grass on our 3-acre piece of paradise.

To me, driving is a romanticized experience with windows down and tunes cranked, fresh air feels while cruising smoothly ahead, not a stoplight in sight.

I was also a product of my environment since where I grew up in the country we needed a car to get anywhere. There were no sidewalks, no public transportation, no bike lanes; just trees and cornfields that lined the unlined roads. The closest grocery store and most other conveniences were a 20-minute drive away. (Hence the hoarder nature in me since our cupboards were always well stocked in case of emergency.) In these scenarios, car ownership is practically a necessity. That changes though when one moves to the city.

In a city, one does not need a car. In fact, cars searching for parking spots in a downtown location account for almost half of all vehicles on the road and contribute unnecessary emissions and expenditures^1,2,3. Personal vehicles, though still arguably somewhat convenient, become more of a hindrance. Even more so when you take into account the grand scheme of everyone’s personal wellbeing.

Without a car, you don’t have to worry about:

• Where you parked your car
• Paying for parking
• Paying for parking tickets
• Damage from passersby or other drivers
• Paying for insurance
• Paying for gas
• Paying for maintenance
• Time and inconvenience of taking your car to the shop
• Getting stuck in traffic
• Who to call for help if you break down
• Being stranded with a huge hunk of metal that’s your responsibility but you can’t move on your own

By utilizing other modes of transportation you:

• Gain a more active lifestyle
  • Get in better shape
  • Release positive endorphins
• Get to experience more of your community
  • Meet your neighbors
  • See new sights
  • See old sites from a new perspective
• Become more aware of your actions, habits, possessions
  • Combine shopping trips
  • Take only what you need
  • Minimalize and simplify for peace of mind
• Realize the many moving parts that make a city work
• Circumvent traffic jams
• Reduce your carbon footprint
  • Help the ultimate environment
  • Make your immediate air quality cleaner
• Decrease overall traffic congestion thereby improving general transportation efficiency
• Create demand for complete streets and more efficient public transportation

I was happy and even relieved to give up my car to live in a city. Without a car, I felt more free and mobile than ever. Part of it is that I chose to live in a neighborhood in a city that was walkable, bikeable, and busable. Another part is that I no longer had an extension of me that was weighing me down–literally by 2 tons or so, but also figuratively by freeing up mental worry space. Car-free is carefree, at least to me.

A book that was gifted to me and I found extremely helpful is How to Live Well Without Owning a Car: Save Money, Breathe Easier, and Get More Mileage Out of Life by Chris Balish. It details a lot of practical advice on alternate modes of transportation such as biking, busing, or ridesharing, and even includes worksheets to help you calculate the thousands of dollars you save each year by not owning a car.

What do you love or don’t love about being car-free or not? Anything you would add to the list?

(Granted, the mobile lifestyle of car-only is intriguing to me. If I do follow that path, I would give up my stationary apartment expenses and convenience and pursue the open road. I feel like it’s one or the other, either car or apartment, at this point in my life. Ideally, the car I would get would be a hybrid, low emissions, or other environmentally friendly option. Plug-in electric charged by renewable sources doesn’t seem realistic if I don’t have a dedicated home base for the time being.)

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1. “Reducing Parking Spaces Helps Cities Cut Auto Emissions” <https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reducing-parking-cut-auto-emission/&gt;
2. “Searching for Parking Costs Americans $73 Billion a Year” <http://inrix.com/press-releases/parking-pain-us/&gt;
3. “No Parking Here” <https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/01/future-parking-self-driving-cars/&gt;